Deichkind

Years before the miniseries Will It Blend? became a mass phenomenon on the Internet, German high-school buddies Philipp Grütering and Malte Pittner formed the refreshingly controversial Deichkind to conduct a few blending experiments of their own. Hailing from Bergedorf on the outer outskirts of Hamburg, Grütering and Pittner teamed up with producer Sebastian Hackert and DJ Phono in 1997 to breathe some fresh life into the country's somewhat conservative rap scene -- only to find out that the scene itself wasn't quite ready for Deichkind's idea of reform. The outfit's first concerts (art-hop in Low German!) more often than not ended with the MCs fleeing the stage, ducking tomatoes and half-empty beer cans. Stubbornness, however, has always been a North German virtue. Another MC, Buddy Inflagranti, whose accordion promised better protection from flying vegetables, was incorporated, and three years into their mission Deichkind's second EP, Kabeljau Inferno (Codfish Inferno), eventually opened doors around the country, helping score a deal with Warner's Showdown label in 1999. Just a few months later, Bitte Ziehen Sie Durch, Deichkind's first album, was released nationwide and the single "Bon Voyage" landed the band a spot in every other summer festival in the country. Collaborations with Nina, Dendemann, and Nico Suave helped convince die-hard hip-hop fans who little by little seemed to warm to Deichkind's eclectic mixture of hip-hop and whatever else came to mind. The band's follow-up album, Noch 5 Minuten Mutti (Five More Minutes of Mom), released in 2002, employed Deichkind's trademark skits and humorous lyrics without gaining the band any significantly new ground. The band consequently disappeared from view for almost three years until reappearing from its hiatus in...